Elsie and the gang at A Beautiful Mess have featured our living room as a part of their “At Home With” series! I appreciated the reminder to capture our home at this moment in time, as this place is like a living creature- constantly changing as the days go by. Head on over to my interview at A Beautiful Mess to see more photos of our living room and to read a bit about our home and my favorite treasures.

L I V I N G   R O O M   D E T A I L S :

Mostly everything in our living room is second-hand or homemade, so I don’t have sources for you to find your own. But I did find a similar coffee table here, our shell chair rocker can be purchased here, the ice cream poster can be found here, and the photo frames here. I bought my kilim rugs from eBay and can recommend this seller and this seller. If you’re ever in the Canton area, you can shop some of my favorite sources for affordable second-hand home decor- the Route 43 Antique Mall (in Cairo near Hartville), the Medina Antique Mall, and Stagecoach Antiques (Akron).

Our bookshelves were made with poplar wood (7″ pieces at the top, and 14″ pieces at the bottom) and were mounted using standards and brackets that can be purchased at any hardware store. I did have to special order 6″ brackets from here, though. I used brackets that were smaller than the width of my shelves, and on the bottom of the shelves  I used a dremel to notch out the space for the raised bracket edges to fit together with each shelf. If you have any questions, I’ll answer them in the comments!

This week we have another vintage-loving mama here to share with us a very Canadian cocktail- The Ceasar. I’m really curious to try this one, because I’m a big fan of tomato and spice. Be sure to visit Jill’s newly redesigned website, Lune Vintage, and check out the fabulous vintage stock she has for sale too!

“I have a few go to cocktails, but my favorite evening starter is the Caesar! It’s also a Canadian invented cocktail. Consider it a Bloody Mary with a delicious twist. Can you guess what the secret ingredient is? Well it’s clam juice of course!”

“The main ingredient you will need to make the perfect Canadian Caesar is Mott’s Clamato juice. Since we’re adding our own spice in this recipe  I’d recommend using the original version but it also comes in extra spicy and with horseradish.”

“Start off by preparing your glass. Run a slice of lime along the rim (I love using mason jars) and pounce it in some sea salt. Squeeze another lime wedge into the glass and add 4 dashes of Worcestershire sauce and 2 dashes of Tabasco sauce. Fill the glass with ice and add the vodka and clamato juice. Stir up the mixture with a celery stick and add a pinch of peppercorns and salt to the top. There you have it, a classic Canadian drink to start your night off with a kick. Try it, you’ll love it!”

Thanks for sharing, Jill!

The hunt has begun! I’ve been wearing my eye glasses a lot more often these days, so I thought it would be nice to add a new pair of frames to the rotation. I’m looking for vintage-inspired eye glasses that are affordable and will go well with that heavily ’60s influenced wardrobe of mine. If you remember my vintage sunglasses round-up last Summer, I’ve been obsessed with the cat eye style, and now I’m thinking about that style for daily wear! But I’m also considering a more traditional plastic frame. Oh, decisions, decisions! Which style do you think I should go for?

 Purple Subtle Cat Eye Glasses – $99
 Translucent Light Brown Cat Eye Glasses – $63.99
 Dramatic Black Cat Eye Glasses – $216.99
 Purple Rounded Cat Eye Glasses – $129.60
 Tortoise Cat Eye Ray Bans – $121.99
 Modern Black Cat Eye Glasses – $99
 Pink Oval Eye Glasses – $138.99
 Black Rounded Eye Glasses – $99
 Semi-Rimmed Wayfarers – $99
 Rounded Tortoise Eye Glasses – $99.99
 Rounded Tortoise Wayfarers – $95
 Blue Wayfarers – $95